Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover

The Queen's agitation-Her illness-Her sufferings-Desires her diary
may be destroyed-Her death-Sketch of her life-Her mother a
foolish woman— -Every sense of justice outraged by the King-Incon-
sistency of the Whigs-The Queen persecuted even after death—
Disrespect shown to her remains by the government-Protest against
a disgraceful haste to remove her remains-Course of the funeral
procession interrupted by the people-Collision between the military
and the populace-Effort to force a way through the people ineffec-
tual-The procession compelled to pass through the City-The plate
on the Queen's coffin removed-The funeral reaches Harwich-The
Queen's remains taken to Brunswick-Funeral oration-Tombs of
the illustrious dead there

PAGE

404

LIVES

OF THE

QUEENS OF ENGLAND.

CHARLOTTE SOPHIA,

WIFE OF GEORGE III.

In Freud und Elend,

Als treue Gattinn

Nicht zu entweichen.

GÖTHE.

CHAPTER I.

THE COMING OF THE BRIDE.

Lady Sarah Lennox, the object of George the Third's early affections-The fair Quaker-Matrimonial commission of Colonel Græme-Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh-Her spirited letter to the King of Prussia-Demanded in marriage by George the Third-Arrival in England-Her progress to London-Colchester and its candied eringo-root-Entertained by Lord Abercorn-Arrival in London, and reception-Claim of the Irish peeresses advocated by Lord Charlemont-The royal marriage-The first drawingroom-A comic anecdote The King and Queen at the Chapel Royal-At the theatre; accidents on the occasion-The coronation-Incidents and anecdotes connected with it-The young Pretender said to have been present-The coronation produced at the theatre.

THE eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was yet young when his grandfather began to consider the question of his marriage; and, it is said, had designed to form a union

VOL. II.

between him and a princess of the royal family of Prussia. The design, if ever formed, entirely failed, and while those most anxious for the Protestant succession were occupied in naming princesses worthy to espouse an heir to a throne, that heir himself is said to have fixed his young affections on an English lady, whose virtues and beauty might have made her eligible, had not the accident of her not being a foreigner barred her way to the throne. This lady was Lady Sarah Lennox; and a vast amount of gossip was expended upon her and the young Prince, by those busy persons whose chief occupation consists in arranging the affairs of others. It is impossible to say how far this young couple were engaged; but the fact, as surmised, rendered the friends of the Prince, now George III., more anxious than ever to see him provided with a fair partner on the throne.

Walpole has described the lady who first raised a tender feeling in the breast of George, in very graphic terms: "There was a play at Holland House, acted by children; not all children, for Lady Sarah Lennox (subsequently Lady Sarah Napier) and Lady Susan Strangways played the women. It was Jane Shore. Charles Fox was Hastings. The two girls were delightful, and acted with so much nature, that they appeared the very things they represented. Lady Sarah was more beautiful than you can conceive; and her very awkwardness gave an air of truth to the sham of the part, and the antiquity of the time, kept up by her dress, which was taken out of Montfauçon. Lady Susan was dressed from Jane Seymour. I was more struck with the last scene between the two women than ever I was when I have seen it on the stage. When Lady Sarah was in white, with her hair about her ears, and on the ground, no Magdalen of Correggio was half so lovely and expressive."

But there is a pretty romance extant, based, as even romances may be, upon some foundation of reality; and according to the narrators thereof, it is said that the King, when yet only Prince of Wales, had been attracted by the charms of a young Quakeress, named Lightfoot (of the

vicinity of St. James's Market), long before he had felt subdued by the more brilliant beauty of Lady Sarah Lennox. The romance has been recounted circumstantially enough by its authors and editors; and, if these are to be trusted, the young Prince was so enamoured that, finding his peace of mind and happiness depended on his being united to the gentle Hannah, he made a confidant of his brother, Edward Duke of York, and another person, who has never had the honour of being named, and in their presence a marriage was contracted privately at Curzon Street Chapel, May Fair, in the year 1759.

A few years previous to this time, May Fair had been the favourite locality for the celebration of hurried marriages, particularly at "Keith's Chapel," which was within ten yards of "Curzon Chapel." The Reverend Alexander Keith kept open altar during the usual office hours from ten till four, and married parties for the small fee of a guinea, license included. Parties requiring to be united at other hours, paid extra. The Reverend Alexander so outraged the law that he was publicly excommunicated in 1742; for which he as publicly excommunicated the excommunicators, in return. Seven years before George is said to have married Hannah Lightfoot at Curzon Chapel, James, the fourth Duke of Hamilton, was married at "Keith's," to the youngest of the beautiful Miss Gunnings, -"with a ring of the bed-curtain," says Horace Walpole, and at half an hour after twelve at night."

The rest of the pretty romance, touching George and Hannah, is rather lumbering in its construction. The married lovers are said to have kept a little household of their own, and round the hearth thereof, we are further told, that there were not wanting successive young faces, adding to its happiness. But there came the moment when the dream was to disappear, and the sleeper to awaken. We are told by the retailers of the story, that Hannah Lightfoot was privately disposed of—not by bowl, prison, or dagger, but by espousing her to a gentle Strephon named Axford, who, for a pecuniary consideration, took Hannah to wife, and asked no impertinent questions. They lived, at least Hannah did, for a time, in

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Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, 第 2 巻